Reggie’s Top 100 Favorite Albums of All Time: #100-96

I recently went to see Paradise Lost in Norwich, UK, and while there another fan asked me what my Top 10 bands were. Honestly, I couldn’t answer him because that has been a burning thought in my mind for a long time. There are too many great bands out there. I listed a few bands, but other than that steam started coming out of my ears – Three Stooges style. There are just too many good bands out there to think about which one is best. My top bands list is a project for the future. I did, however, find it easier to list my favorite albums. Jumping on the bandwagon at THOM, I finally formulated my list – a bit later than everyone else. With my list, I limited myself to a maximum of three albums by a band just to be fair and mostly unbiased.

#100 – Marty Friedman – Scenes

I have tremendous respect for the guitarist. I like his music better with Megadeth, but his solo work is also pretty great. It seems a shame to have him at #100, but considering all the albums I actually own this is still quite a compliment. I love his Japanese-style guitar work on this rather mellow album. If I meditated I would probably do so to Scenes; I find it quite relaxing. When I was still single I went to sleep every night listening to music and this particular album was just the right prescription for falling asleep peacefully.

#99 – Type O Negative – Bloody Kisses

This was my first introduction to Type O Negative. I would consider myself a fan of the band’s entire discography, but Bloody Kisses has a largest collection of Type O Negative songs I like on one album. I thought they were a good live band and it is a damn shame Peter Steele is no longer with us, R.I.P. Right around the time this album was released (1993) I was home on leave and was hungry for new music. I picked this album because I read something about Type O Negative in a magazine and I also liked the album cover. It turns out the music was (and still is) pretty damn good.

#98 – Cradle of Filth – Midian

I believe this may be the only Black metal band on the list; Midian was pretty much my introduction to the genre. I find it hard to listen to Black metal at length; therefore my collection of Black metal is mainly made up of the more popular artists of the genre. I dig the darkness of the album and infusion with Jezebel Deva’s opera-like backing vocals; it’s a nice contrast. Midian is fast and ferocious and I think Dani Filth’s vocals were top-notch on this album. I think he has evolved well since Midian by utilizing more of his own “normal” voice, but he is just so…Black metal here. Another cool band to see live, Cradle of Filth puts on a show!

#97 – Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine

Sometime around 1992, I met this girl who was into Nine Inch Nails big time. I never heard of them, but for the sake of getting to know her, I got to know all about Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. I did end up liking this album and I still do. At the time, I was looking to listen to different things along with some Grunge bands that were coming out. I thought Nine Inch Nails was a better alternative to Alternative. They were still heavy, catchy, and erratic all at the same time. I bought one more NIN album after this, but stopped and never bought anymore. So, what happened with the girl? Nothing, she was as erratic as the band. I ended up gaining a new band to my music library and that was about it.

#96 – D.R.I. – Thrashzone

Any indication of punk is limited on my favorite album list. It is not a genre I can get into easily. Even Thrashzone is hardly punk, but since D.R.I. crossed over, you can still here remnants of their former punk selves. I liked the song Thrashard because it is a song about getting to the show and getting into the pit. Of course, as a teenager that’s what it was all about…the next show and getting in the pit – venting off. I don’t pit today because…well, is just hurts and I am too old for that. The song today still brings back fond memories of some really cool and memorable pits I have been a part of. I never saw D.R.I live and I am not sure I would ever want to be in one of their pits, but I probably would have tried once.

That Marty Freidman song is really damn good! I’ll have to check out some of his solo work, it was far from what I expected.
Type-o is great too. That’s such a good album. For the longest time there was a running inside joke with me and my friends with the ‘Kill all the White People’ song. That brings back some memories. There were such a great live band. Very happy I got to see them multiple times. Peter is such a great front man, and really really fucking huge. One of the biggest men I’ve ever seen.
Great pick on DRI!! That would be my top DRI album.
Off to a great start!